Nigeria’s Presidency Vehemently Denies That Jonathan Is Worth $100 Million, Threatens Legal Action

Nigeria’s Presidency has vehemently denied report by a website – RichestLifestyle.com – listing President Goodluck Jonathan as the sixth richest African President with an estimated net worth of $100 Million U.S. Dollars.
In a statement discounting such claim, special adviser to President Jonathan on media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati threatened to drag the foreign media that floated the idea and what he called its local copy-cat to local and international court for libel.
“We therefore demand a retraction and an unreserved apology from Richest Lifestyle.com and all those who have reproduced the offensive article.
“Otherwise, they should be prepared to substantiate their libelous claims against the President in courts of law within and outside Nigeria
Dr. Abati condemned what he called ‘the totally unwarranted inclusion of President Jonathan in the publication titled “Africa’s Richest Presidents 2014” as another attempt to unjustifiably portray the President as a corrupt leader and incite public disaffection against him.
He said categorically that there is no factual basis for ranking President Jonathan as the sixth richest African Head of State with a net worth of about $100 Million U.S. Dollars, adding: “as is well known, President Jonathan has never been a businessman or entrepreneur, but a life-long public servant.
“The President has held public office since 1999 and has regularly declared his assets as required by Nigerian laws. He has had no personal income since 1999 other than his official remuneration as deputy governor, governor, vice president, acting president and president which are matters of public record.
“There has been no significant variation in the totality of his personal assets as contained in his last declaration to the Nigerian Code of Conduct Bureau in 2011 which, as can be verified, was a very, very far cry from the $100 million figure now being bandied about by Richest Lifestyle.com and other irresponsible, copy-cat publications.
“The clear and unacceptable imputation of the claim that President Jonathan is now worth about $100 Million is that the President has corruptly enriched himself while in office which is certainly not the case.”
The Richest Lifestyle, a US-based website had listed President Jonathan as the 6th Richest African president. In an article titled, ‘Richest African Presidents 2014′ the US website compiled a list of the nine richest presidents and kings in Africa.
According to the article, President Jonathan is worth $100 Million as the Angolan President, Jose Eduardo do Santos comes first with $20 Billion worth while the Moroccan President, Mohammed VI nets $2.5 Billion.
The leaders and their worth as presented by the website who were so listed are as follow:
1.Jose Eduardo dos Santos of Angola – Net Worth: $20 Billion
2.Mohammed VI of Morocco – Net Worth: $2.5 Billion
3.Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea – $600 Million
4.Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya – Net Worth: $500 Million
5.Paul Biya of Cameroon – Net Worth: $200 Million
6.King Mswati III of Swaziland – Net Worth: $100 Million (The monarch shares the number 6 spot with President Jonathan)
7.Idriss Deby of Chad – Net Worth: $50 Million
8.Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe – Net Worth: $10 Million. [myad]